A Picture Worth a Thousand Words: Three Mile Island The picture assigned to me was a picture of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant explosion.The explosion was totally unexpected and caused the people of America to rethink their nuclear power safety regulations and how to run a nuclear power plant. The explosion of the Three Mile Island reactor took place on March 29, 1979 on Three Mile Island Pennsylvania.The accident was caused when one of the reactor cores in the power plant had a fault in the cooling system, due to an electrical failure, the coolant pumps in the condensate polishing stopped functioning.After the coolant pump stopped functioning, the feedwater pumps began to malfunction as well.After the pumps began to shut down, the core began to shut down, and control rods were put into the core which stopped the fission reaction.After the core stopped producing energy, the reactor continued to generate heat, which couldn’t be cooled because of the faults in the cooling system, and a stuck pilot operated valve which allowed the remaining coolant to flow out of the reactor.When the auxiliary pumps began to pump water into the over heating turbine, the water was stopped by valves that had been closed for the mantenience the second reactor was undergoing and the water was stopped from reaching the overheated turbine.These factors together plus the buildup of steam caused the reactor release the pressurized radioactive steam into the surrounding environment.The explosion also rendered the entire power plant un-usable and contaminated the building so badly, it became unsafe to walk in. The Three Mile Island Reactor meltdown had a large impact on the nuclear power industry.The meltdown caused people to panic about nuclear power, and they began to protest against new power plants that were being built.Due to the protests, and the general fear of nuclear power, the amount of nuclear power plants being reduced every year after the explosion, and still decreases today.Before the explosion about 129 power plants were being planned for construction, after the explosion, only53 of them were actually built, which is less than half of the planned amount of reactors. While the Three Mile Island explosion had an effect on the nuclear power industry, it also began to have an effect on the environment surrounding the power plant. As scientists began to study the animals and wild life around the plant, they began to notice an increased rate of cancer in the animals around the plant, as well as high levels of radon.Radon is a element that is produced in nuclear reactions, and some of the radon of the nuclear power plant was released in the radioactive steam that was let off from the plant in the explosion.Another effect of the explosion was a slight increase rate of cancer in the people who lived near the plant, but scientists have decided that the data gathered on this subject may be inconsistent. After the explosion of the power plant, many people began to write either pro or anti nuclear power articles, and books.The pro people believed that nuclear power was a sort of a necessary risk, and that the accident was a freak accident that only happened by chance, while the anti nuclear power people believed that accidents like the Three Mile Island explosion will occur more and more often and that nuclear power needed to be stopped to keep America from becoming contaminated from all the nuclear waste that would cover the ground if power plants kept exploding or melting down.Many critics assaulted each article which showed that America is still split on whether nuclear power is a good idea, or our own sort of doomsday time bomb at is still waiting to go off at any given moment. The feelings toward nuclear power still haven’t changed much since the explosion at Three Mile Island, many people consider the nuclear power to be good while others still consider it to be bad.The explosion the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl Ukraine also contributed to the mixed feelings of nuclear power that plagues Americans today.The accident was similar to the explosion at Three Mile Island, with similar effects.Almost every politician has used the nuclear power situation in America to try and win votes in their elections by playing their ideas for the nuclear power to the side of the conflict that has the most people to try and gain as many votes as they possibly can.Since the explosion, some scientists have begun to look for ways to generate clean, “green” energies, so America can cut it’s dependence on nuclear power down to a very small amount and so the risk of meltdowns is decreased.
Although there are many disputes about nuclear power since the explosion at Three Mile Island, our country still uses nuclear power for our energy needs, enough Americans still see nuclear power as an efficient source of energy, and nuclear power accounts for almost 20% of the energy generated in our country, which is the third highest energy generator in America.Nuclear Power also generates lots of power at an alleged low cost, and is supposedly safer than most energies, which also keeps Americans unsure about whether to condemn the industry or to keep it running so we can have the power needed to run the country. The meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant can be viewed as one of the largest nuclear accidents in the history of America.There was a huge effect on the environment around the plant by the escaped radiation and the people who lived around the plant have experienced an increase of cancer rates.While these effects can be viewed as a negative effect on our country, the explosion has made Americans begin to realize that perhaps they shouldn’t focus all their efforts in developing the energy industry in nuclear power, and begin to focus in other areas so we as a country can develop in more ways than just one.
The picture assigned to me was a picture of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant explosion. The explosion was totally unexpected and caused the people of America to rethink their nuclear power safety regulations and how to run a nuclear power plant.
The explosion of the Three Mile Island reactor took place on March 29, 1979 on Three Mile Island Pennsylvania. The accident was caused when one of the reactor cores in the power plant had a fault in the cooling system, due to an electrical failure, the coolant pumps in the condensate polishing stopped functioning. After the coolant pump stopped functioning, the feedwater pumps began to malfunction as well. After the pumps began to shut down, the core began to shut down, and control rods were put into the core which stopped the fission reaction. After the core stopped producing energy, the reactor continued to generate heat, which couldn’t be cooled because of the faults in the cooling system, and a stuck pilot operated valve which allowed the remaining coolant to flow out of the reactor. When the auxiliary pumps began to pump water into the over heating turbine, the water was stopped by valves that had been closed for the mantenience the second reactor was undergoing and the water was stopped from reaching the overheated turbine. These factors together plus the buildup of steam caused the reactor release the pressurized radioactive steam into the surrounding environment. The explosion also rendered the entire power plant un-usable and contaminated the building so badly, it became unsafe to walk in.
The Three Mile Island Reactor meltdown had a large impact on the nuclear power industry. The meltdown caused people to panic about nuclear power, and they began to protest against new power plants that were being built. Due to the protests, and the general fear of nuclear power, the amount of nuclear power plants being reduced every year after the explosion, and still decreases today. Before the explosion about 129 power plants were being planned for construction, after the explosion, only 53 of them were actually built, which is less than half of the planned amount of reactors.
While the Three Mile Island explosion had an effect on the nuclear power industry, it also began to have an effect on the environment surrounding the power plant. As scientists began to study the animals and wild life around the plant, they began to notice an increased rate of cancer in the animals around the plant, as well as high levels of radon. Radon is a element that is produced in nuclear reactions, and some of the radon of the nuclear power plant was released in the radioactive steam that was let off from the plant in the explosion. Another effect of the explosion was a slight increase rate of cancer in the people who lived near the plant, but scientists have decided that the data gathered on this subject may be inconsistent.
After the explosion of the power plant, many people began to write either pro or anti nuclear power articles, and books. The pro people believed that nuclear power was a sort of a necessary risk, and that the accident was a freak accident that only happened by chance, while the anti nuclear power people believed that accidents like the Three Mile Island explosion will occur more and more often and that nuclear power needed to be stopped to keep America from becoming contaminated from all the nuclear waste that would cover the ground if power plants kept exploding or melting down. Many critics assaulted each article which showed that America is still split on whether nuclear power is a good idea, or our own sort of doomsday time bomb at is still waiting to go off at any given moment.
The feelings toward nuclear power still haven’t changed much since the explosion at Three Mile Island, many people consider the nuclear power to be good while others still consider it to be bad. The explosion the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl Ukraine also contributed to the mixed feelings of nuclear power that plagues Americans today. The accident was similar to the explosion at Three Mile Island, with similar effects. Almost every politician has used the nuclear power situation in America to try and win votes in their elections by playing their ideas for the nuclear power to the side of the conflict that has the most people to try and gain as many votes as they possibly can. Since the explosion, some scientists have begun to look for ways to generate clean, “green” energies, so America can cut it’s dependence on nuclear power down to a very small amount and so the risk of meltdowns is decreased.
Although there are many disputes about nuclear power since the explosion at Three Mile Island, our country still uses nuclear power for our energy needs, enough Americans still see nuclear power as an efficient source of energy, and nuclear power accounts for almost 20% of the energy generated in our country, which is the third highest energy generator in America. Nuclear Power also generates lots of power at an alleged low cost, and is supposedly safer than most energies, which also keeps Americans unsure about whether to condemn the industry or to keep it running so we can have the power needed to run the country.
The meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant can be viewed as one of the largest nuclear accidents in the history of America. There was a huge effect on the environment around the plant by the escaped radiation and the people who lived around the plant have experienced an increase of cancer rates. While these effects can be viewed as a negative effect on our country, the explosion has made Americans begin to realize that perhaps they shouldn’t focus all their efforts in developing the energy industry in nuclear power, and begin to focus in other areas so we as a country can develop in more ways than just one.